Hi all! I’m working my way toward med school. I’ve got a bachelor’s in chemistry (graduated 2004) with a crappy GPA (2.6). A lot going on in college that led to this, because honestly I am a good student and my hard work/work ethic has been demonstrated by my five year career as a nutritional supplements formulator. I also do volunteering at the hospital and the local animal shelter.
Problem is, my grades as not going to get me into med school. Just took the MCAT and waiting on the results now. Without doing a formal post-bac program, can I go back to school and retake classes to boost my GPA? Does this work?
I’ve read in other forums that this doesn’t work but I don’t see how it WOULDN’T help the adcom to see that I can indeed do well in school and that things have changed for me.
And on that note, why are my grades still so important when I graduated so long ago and I have a career!!! This drives me nuts!
Thanks all for your input.
If you apply DO they ave a policy of grade replacement so that will help alot when you retake. Also schools will look at what have you done lately when making a decision. As I am apllying right now I really don’t know how true it is, but I know many folks on here in similar situations who are now in med-school.
Although Baileypup is right regarding grade replacement, 4 years of a less than 3.0 avg will take a lot of redoing.
Why are grades important? Because MCAT tests critical thinking, but not your ability to perform well with a very heavy academic load. So instead of “fixing” the old gpa, think about demonstrating your ability to excell with a heavy academic schedule studying advanced science courses. Think about taking things you did not have the opportunity to take before, perhaps mainly in biology: genetics, molecular biology,microbiology, anatomy, physiology
and perhaps: psychology, behavioral development
Your postbacc grades will generate a line item in your application - your postbacc GPA. If that is excellent, you will show you have figured out how to be academically successful. You will also have given yourself an edge in being successful in your 1st year medical school classes.
The past is the past, but there should be some academic current “story” to go along with your volunteer and career involvement.
Kate
Thank you for your awesome feedback.
I am correct in understanding that it would be better to focus LESS on replacing my grades, and MORE on demonstrating my academic/scholastic abilities? As in, not worrying too much about bringing up my GPA but instead showing that I’m a great student…
Thanks!!
Yes, that is most important, unless you have some bad grades in the pre-req courses.
- Kate429 Said:
I assume that this means that for those of us who have crappy post-bacc GPAs, including retakes and W's, that we haven't figured out how to excel. Is there any way around this? I think my only hope is doing well on the MCAT and going Caribbean/Mexico.
- datsa Said:
datsa,
The inconvenient answer is to try for an SMP if your post-bac GPA is at least 3.0 and you get at least 30 MCAT. The downsides are several though. There were no SMPs in CA at least as of 3 years ago so you would have to leave the state, diminishing your chances of getting into a state school. I think I saw somewhere that USC was establishing an SMP, though. Wherever you go, it's going to drain funding you could have used to finance med school.
The UC schools used to have a program (at least as of 6 years ago) designed for URM/disadvantaged re-applicants. But, with the UC funding morass, I'm not sure if these programs still exist. You would also have to first throw down a lot of money on unsuccessful med school apps before being able to apply to this type of program (assuming they still exist).
- datsa Said:
If you're dead set on throwing in the towel and heading to the tropics, there's no sense in beating yourself up with trying to score competitively on the MCAT. Schools like SGU, UAG, etc. don't require the MCAT. You'll just be inflicting more misery on yourself.
You also need to address your learning disability before going any further in this process. Schools like SGU, UAG, Ross, etc. move at the same ludicrous speed as their US counterparts and you could be poised to fall behind in class very quickly. It would be utter torture. Also, the MCAT would not be your friend and in this pursuit, you want the MCAT to be your friend. (I think this is 1 of gonnif's rules.)
Seriously, I would say address your learning disability, then prepare on your own for the MCAT. If you do well (27+ for DO/31+ for MD), apply broadly to US schools. Your extracurriculars are strong esp. when it comes to serving vulnerable/disadvantaged populations so you could be pleasantly surprised at a successful outcome somewhere. But it won't happen until you address the things that are holding you back. My 2¢.
if ur post bacc GPA sucks your probably not getting into any MD schools. Maybe try DO or foreign schools.
put urself in the adcomms shoes…why would they think that you would be successful in med school if ur grades from something that is less work suck and there is no evidence that something has changed since then?
This is only my opinion but I think with a bad post bacc GPA you should look into other options besides medical school, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
OP,
I’d go to a foreign med school and just try to really prove yourself there. You could also do a 2 yr masters in science program then apply as well but thats a fair bit of additional schooling.